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There’s certainly no love lost between Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren. “Gamebred” did not appreciate Askren’s pre-fight barbs — which were admittedly fairly mild — and Masvidal returned some trash talk following his record-setting knockout win<\/a> over the Olympian. Still, after the immediate aftermath, Masvidal has shown Askren some respect and given him a bit of credit for serving as a launch pad to his own stardom<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a recent interview with Kevin Iole<\/a>, Masvidal discussed his former foe’s decision to retire<\/a> (transcription via scmp.com<\/a>):<\/p>\n “He brings in his own crowd, – he was a stand-out in wrestling, especially collegiate wrestling, so he did have a fan base. He did some things over at Bellator and on One FC. So he did have a crowd that he brought over with him to the sport, a different type of crowd. But what I don’t like is we’re fighters. We’re supposed to fight, man. You got two losses, it’s no big deal my brother. Get back on the high horse, get to work and figure it out, man.”<\/p>\n Masvidal did note that he doesn’t know the extent of Askren’s hip injury, but otherwise, Masvidal advises that Askren keep grinding. It’s easy to understand the points of view of each man, as Masvidal suffered double digit losses before his current win streak, which has elevated his ranking and level of fame to greater heights than ever before.<\/p>\n Askren, meanwhile, admitted that he never loved the sport, and it’s difficult to see the 35-year-old bounce back from such a major injury and<\/em> fix the holes in his game to become a title contender once more.<\/p>\n